I’d like to thank Mary Cravets for an insightful comment on my post ‘How We Underestimate What We Can Do in Ten Years‘. In this post we comment the statement that ‘People always underestimate what they can do in ten years and overestimate what they can do in a week’. Mary commented that our perspective on this timeline will probably change considerably between our 20’s and our 40’s.
For sure when we reach 40 or 50 we will have grown consciously through a few decades, and in hindsight most of us can measure how much change we have introduced in our lives in the space of a typical decade. When we are 20, our experience in the matter is more limited. Hence we might believe more in the statement with maturity.
On the other hand, when we are 20 we think we can take the world by storm; at 40 or 50 most people are a bit more prudent. If they have met significant hardship or disappointment on the way they might even be pessimistic about how much they can change the world around them and this might prevent them to take initiative. Our level of energy and endurance might also have sagged on average (it is not true for everyone!).
Age and experience does change our outlook on what we can achieve. There will be, depending on the person, positive and negative tensions that will or not lead to take initiative.
Personally, I try to reinvent myself about every 7-8 years, professionally at least. That is what I have done in the past. Those changes are a bit tough sometimes, but they can be managed. And it is fun! The more I age, the more I want to continue to do that, because it is fun and I like to discover new things. And right now I am quite sure that what I will be doing in a decade will be quite different from what I think today. What about you?
